NGC 3923 is an elliptical galaxy over 90 million light-years away whose outer halo is arranged in concentric shells, like the layers of an onion. Such shells are common in elliptical galaxies, and roughly one in ten shows them, but they are almost never seen in spiral galaxies. The shells form when a larger galaxy absorbs a smaller companion. As the two centres approach, they oscillate around a shared point, and that motion ripples outward like waves from a dropped stone, leaving stars piled into rings. NGC 3923 has more than twenty shells, though most are faint.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.